Hydrocarbons, such as oil and gas, are commonly obtained from subterranean formations that may be located onshore or offshore. The development of subterranean operations and the processes involved in removing hydrocarbons from a subterranean formation are complex. Typically, subterranean operations involve a number of different steps such as, for example, drilling a borehole at a desired well site, treating the borehole to optimize production of hydrocarbons, and performing the necessary steps to produce and process the hydrocarbons from the subterranean formation.
Microseismic event data are often acquired in association with stimulation treatments applied to a subterranean formation. The injection treatments are typically applied to induce fractures in the subterranean formation, and thereby enhance hydrocarbon productivity of the subterranean formation. Pressures generated by a stimulation treatment may induce low-amplitude or low-energy seismic events in the subterranean formation, while such microseismic events may be detected by sensors, generating microseismic event data that is collected for analysis.
In particular for hydraulic fracturing treatments, microseismic event data may be used to estimate a stimulated reservoir volume (SRV) in order to characterize a subterranean reservoir of hydrocarbons. Because the precise location of the microseismic events are included with the microseismic data, an enclosed volume from the set of microseismic event data may represent the SRV for a given subterranean reservoir. One typical method of computing the SRV of a subterranean reservoir is to generate a minimum convex polygon (also referred to as a “convex hull”) that completely encloses a set of microseismic data obtained from the subterranean reservoir. However, due to the convexity constraint, the minimum convex polygon may also enclose large unstimulated voids, which may lead to an undesirable overestimation of the SRV for a given subterranean reservoir.
While embodiments of this disclosure have been depicted and described and are defined by reference to exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, such references do not imply a limitation on the disclosure, and no such limitation is to be inferred. The subject matter disclosed is capable of considerable modification, alteration, and equivalents in form and function, as will occur to those skilled in the pertinent art and having the benefit of this disclosure. The depicted and described embodiments of this disclosure are examples only, and are not exhaustive of the scope of the disclosure.